|
I have had many issues with character death in mid campaign. It truly hurts when I have developed storyline around said character and the party either can't afford to bring the PC back, or the player opts to make a new PC.
Here's how I've learned to get around that.
1. I changed my raise dead rules to be 500 gp of diamond dust per HD of the character to be raised. So, a level 3 character would cost 1,500 gp. This is much more affordable to low level PCs. The check on this is that the costs continue going up as the player levels. So, a level 12 character would cost 6,000 gp to raise. Ressurrection costs 1,000 gp per HD, and I think True Rez was 2,500 gp a HD.
2. If a character brings back in a new PC, they bring them back in at the same level as the party. But, if the player wants to equip the new PC, he takes whatever the average party wealth is for his cash AND the equipment from the old PC is buried with the character. There is NO exception to this except for quest/campaign critical items. This helps avoid massive influx of gold, and makes sure that the new character is equipped comparable to the rest of the party.
I tried penalizing the new PC by making them lower level, but it never worked. Usually, it just met that the new PC died. Also, since I've running APs, I don't dole out XP anymore. I just inform everybody when they'll level as per the "party should be this level" breakdown in each chapter. It makes for one less thing to track, makes it easier to modify encounters, and I don't have to worry about anybody falling behind if they miss a few sessions. I just make sure to give out enough gold to make sure players not there get a share, and make sure that the party understands this.
Hope this helps. Good luck. My group is in the middle of the Siege on Sandpoint, and they're running NPCs as the PCs decided to take a break in Magnimar for a few days. Needless to say, the stone giants are running ramshod through town and doing pretty much whatever they feel like.
|
Sooooo...
My group just finished up fighting the quasit in the catacombs. Unfortuntely, one of my PC's didn't make it through the encounter. Rock, our half-orc barbarian, fell victim to the pool of wrath. The rest of the party decided it would be best to run and shut him in with the last remaining sinspawn. Seeing as how he demolished every other sinspawn almost single handedly this didn't seem like such a bad idea. Lock him in until the wrath wore off, right? Wrong. They didn't take into account the damage he sustained from the well. Needless to say, when they re-opened the doors t'was a gruesome scene indeed. Entrials spead about, shedded bits of face on the wall, etc. My question, however, is do I start him at level one or at level three with the rest of the party when he remakes a character?
If you bring in the player's new character as a level 1 (when the rest of the party is level 3), the new character will be even more fragile and prone to die than the one he's replacing.
-Skeld
I agree with the sentiment that the new character should be the same level as the old character. The only real reason to ever "punish" a character for dying (imho of course) is if you think you have a player who is regularly allowing his PCs to die so that he can try out the new flavor of the month. Personally, I've never encountered this though. By the way, even if you have a player who is constantly going to the new flavor of the month, I don't have a huge problem so long as he simply retires the prior character, rather than letting said character die. Letting the character die potentially puts the rest of the party at risk.
@William Sinclair: I hear ya on the pain of losing a character mid-campaign when you have plot hooks hanging out there for said character. I had a character die in a game I was running when the party was in the middle of an adventure that was primarily geared for the now dead character (followed up a plot hook tailored for that PC). Needless to say, the surviving PCs were having a hard time justifying why they wanted to stick around.
|
|
Speaking of the attack on Sandpoint; how are you handling that? I've read almost through that entire encounter and I simply don't know how I'm going to handle the entire town when all I have at my disposal is a 24x30 grid. Meh
I printed up a 3x3 color copy of the Sandpoint map using a combination of the RotRL Handout package PDF, "Print Screen", and paint. I merged the snapshot together and gave it to one of my players to cut out and put together while we were prepping that night. I then planned to put it on corkboard and use color pins with little flags on them to reference various things, show where the players were, where the action was, and so forth. But, after one sessions of the Siege with the players running NPCs, they have decided to let the loss of Sandpoint be a forgone conclusion and move straight on to revenge. I've already prepped for that, and the bad guys have already set up resources to counter the PCs.
I tend to play my games like big chess matches. I allow the PCs to be unnoticed, but eventually they smack the wrong hornet's nest. Once they're spotted, I start countering and interferring. I've set a few things up to give the retreating stone giant scouting party a chance to retreat.
|
|
I agree with the sentiment that the new character should be the same level as the old character. The only real reason to ever "punish" a character for dying (imho of course) is if you think you have a player who is regularly allowing his PCs to die so that he can try out the new flavor of the month. Personally, I've never encountered this though. By the way, even if you have a player who is constantly going to the new flavor of the month, I don't have a huge problem so long as he simply retires the prior character, rather than letting said character die. Letting the character die potentially puts the rest of the party at risk.
This was an issue in my old campaigns for quite a while. And when I was young and ignorant, I even let the new player come in fully decked while allowing the old PC's gear to be kept. Needless to say, it led to Monty-Python games. The first GAMERS movie portrayed this concept quite well.
In any case, with the "flavor of the week" players, I just stopped including their characters in grand plots. When they noticed and complained, I told them why. They still complained. I told them where the door was. They wised up. Now my players try very hard to keep characters going, and I try to meet them half way, by giving out quests for raise deads, and scaling the costs of such spells. The cost is still prohibitive, but reachable, and for PCs who are always out to save the world, rescue the girl, and loot the lair, it's reachable, but still painful.
Sooooo...
My group just finished up fighting the quasit in the catacombs. Unfortuntely, one of my PC's didn't make it through the encounter. Rock, our half-orc barbarian, fell victim to the pool of wrath. The rest of the party decided it would be best to run and shut him in with the last remaining sinspawn. Seeing as how he demolished every other sinspawn almost single handedly this didn't seem like such a bad idea. Lock him in until the wrath wore off, right? Wrong. They didn't take into account the damage he sustained from the well. Needless to say, when they re-opened the doors t'was a gruesome scene indeed. Entrials spead about, shedded bits of face on the wall, etc. My question, however, is do I start him at level one or at level three with the rest of the party when he remakes a character?
Does the player wish to keep playing the barbarian? 3rd level may seem too low to merit a raise dead but I wouldn't let that stop the story or the fun (assuming the player would like to keep the half-orc.) No one in Sandpoint can cast it but someone in Magnimar can and you have a variety of choices for how they "pay" for it. You can lower the cost as suggested by others here or you can extract a favor from a temple or the government in either Sandpoint or Magnimar. "We lost contact with this Fort and we're looking for someone to go find out what's going on..." The pacing of the adventure should allow for a trip to Magmimar and it gives you a chance to introduce the city before they have to go there again in the future.
This was an issue in my old campaigns for quite a while. And when I was young and ignorant, I even let the new player come in fully decked while allowing the old PC's gear to be kept. Needless to say, it led to Monty-Python games. The first GAMERS movie portrayed this concept quite well.In any case, with the "flavor of the week" players, I just stopped including their characters in grand plots. When they noticed and complained, I told them why. They still complained. I told them where the door was. They wised up. Now my players try very hard to keep characters going, and I try to meet them half way, by giving out quests for raise deads, and scaling the costs of such spells. The cost is still prohibitive, but reachable, and for PCs who are always out to save the world, rescue the girl, and loot the lair, it's reachable, but still painful.
Yeah I try to make raise dead like effects fairly available for those that want them, but there's generally a cost, whether material or in the form of "You owe me."
By the same token, I also realize that when I have a long running campaign (current one is nearly 5 years now) most players will eventually get tired of playing the same character week in and week out. If they come to me and say "Hey, look, I like this character and all, but its just getting a little old. I'd really like to take a crack at [insert class here]," then I will let them simply bring a new character into the fold (though they don't get to double up on gear).
Another good way around the problem is to have occasional sessions, or even a few sessions in a row, wherein the players are playing alternate characters. Whether through a flashback, foreshadowing, etc. This allows them to get a bit of the "I have this great idea for a character . . . " itch scratched.